British ballet music - unsung and undanced

[albion]

Original ballet music in Britain is very much a twentieth-century phenomenon - before 1900 I can only really think of Sullivan who deigned to provide substantial scores for dance with L'Ile Enchantee (1864) and Victoria and Merrie England (1897).

In the twentieth century there was a far greater interest in the genre, with many composers contributing. My favourite composers and (recorded) works are -

Vaughan Williams - Old King Cole (1923) and Job (1930)

Lord Berners - The Triumph of Neptune (1926) and Wedding Bouquet (1937)

Arthur Bliss - Checkmate (1937), Miracle in the Gorbals (1944), Adam Zero (1946) and The Lady of Shalott (1958)

Constant Lambert - Pomona (1927), Horoscope (1937) and Tiresias (1951)

Richard Arnell - Punch and the Child (1947), Harlequin in April (1951), The Great Detective (1953) and The Angels (1957)

Malcolm Arnold - Homage to the Queen (1953), Rinaldo and Armida (1954), Sweeney Todd (1959) and Electra (1963)

It seems a great pity that these fine works no longer command the stage, even though they now indicate a retrospective 'golden age' for British ballet and I would really like to hear more from this period, especially the two substantial scores by Stanley Bate - Perseus (1939) and Highland Fling (1946).

[Dundonnell]

What about RVW's Job ?

It is called a Masque for Dancing but it would certainly be right up there in my estimation as not only one of VW's greatest masterpieces but as one of the finest works ever composed in this country.

I also like Old King Cole-although it is certainly a lesser work.

John McCabe's music for Edward II and the two Arthur Ballets contain very powerful music. Indeed McCabe turned some of the music for Edward II into a (5th) Symphony.

[albion]

You are quite right, of course, I should have included the VW works - my mind was clearly on other things - I feel an amendment coming on!

[albion]

It came on!

[Dundonnell]

 

You might also consider the absolutely delightful and charming music Walton wrote for The Wise Virgins. His music for The Quest is, probably, a little less important.

There is also Alan Rawsthorne's Madame Chrystantheme. 

[albion]

I've got the Naxos disc of Walton's ballet music, but have not really warmed very much to The Quest, and as the music of Bach is probably one of my least favourites ( ), The Wise Virgins also holds little appeal.

But I think that Holbrooke's Aucassin and Nicolette (1935) may well shortly join the list!



Do you have recording details for the Rawsthorne?

[Dundonnell]

Rawsthorne's original score for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1955 was 40 minutes long. The Ballet Suite arranged by the composer is a mere 8 minutes worth..that is as recorded by Dutton on CDLX 7203(RLPO/David Lloyd-Jones).

[albion]

Thanks very much - I'm always susceptible to a bit of Rawsthorne!



Eight minutes out of forty seems a bit stingy, though.



I forgot to mention, I've just ordered the all-Arnold Cooke Lyrita CD, so I might also have to add Jabez and the Devil (1959) - slap-bang in the middle of the most productive period for British ballet.

[Dundonnell]

Thanks very much - I'm always susceptible to a bit of Rawsthorne!



Eight minutes out of forty seems a bit stingy, though.



I forgot to mention, I've just ordered the all-Arnold Cooke Lyrita CD, so I might also have to add Jabez and the Devil (1959) - slap-bang in the middle of the most productive period for British ballet.

I was listening to the Arnold Cooke 4th Symphony last night in a BBC broadcast from 1979: BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra/Bernard Keefe
I had forgotten all about Keefe. He conducted quite a lot of British music for BBC orchestras around that time.

Was also listening-in perfect sound -to Anthony Milner's huge Symphony No.2 with the RLPO under Meredith Davies: a choral symphony composed for the Liverpool Festival of Sacred Music in 1978.

Tonight will be Cooke's Symphony No.5, Fricker's Symphony No.5, Robin Orr's Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3........

I also recorded all the BBC broadcasts of the Havergal Brian symphonies including the 3rd under Stanley Pope, the 15th, the 20th under Vernon Handley and the Violin Concerto with Ralph Holmes.....which I believe may be less easily accessible elsewhere?

Anyway....off topic, sorry!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

The two ballet sequences, Gargoyles and Lacryma, spring to mind, in Havergal Brian's opera The Tigers.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Josef Holbrooke wrote 6 ballets:

Pierrot & Pierrette (the suite has just been recorded by Cameo)
Coromanthe (lost)
The Moth and the Flame
The Red Masque
Pandora
Aucassin and Nicolette

seven, if you include the ballet (3 dances) from the opera Bronwen.

Also two Opera-Ballets: The Enchanter and Tamlane

[semloh]

In addition to those already mentioned, a quick trawl for British ballets yielded:

• ADDISON: Carte Blanche
  ARNOLD: Soliaire; The Three Musketeers
  BERNERS: Luna Park; Cupid & Psyche; Les Sirènes
  BRIDGE: In the Shop
  BRITTEN: Prince of the Pagodas
  CHISHOLM: The Forsaken Mermaid; The Hoodie Craw
  COATES: The Enchanted Garden
  COOPER, WT: Scarecrow; Ushabue
  CURZON: Charm of Youth
  DAVIES: Caroline Mathilde
  DAVIS, Carl: A Christmas Carol
  ELGAR: The Sanguine Fan
  FEENEY: Cinderella; Dracula
  FRICKER: Canterbury Tales
  GORDON: The Rake's Progress
  HOLST: The Lure; The Morning of the Year; The Golden Goose
  JACOB: Uncle Remus
  KNUSSEN: In the Mi(d)st
  LAMBERT: The Prospect Before Us (or, Pity the Poor Dancers); Romeo and Juliet
  LANCHBERY: The Tales of Beatrix Potter
  MULDOWNEY: The Brontës
  PARRY: Proserpine
  REYNOLDS: 1066 and All That
  STANDFORD: Celestial Fire
  TOMLINSON: Aladdin
  TOYE: The Haunted Ballroom

Apologies if I've included an Irish item.
Wouldn't it be good to hear some of the lesser known of these! Obvioulsy, some have been recorded, and a few are regularly performed - but many are neither. The Sanguine Fan pops up rarely (LFB, 1976); the music  to Parry's Proserpine had not been played since 1912, until it was aired by the BBC earlier this year; and, according to the CD reviewer at 'allmusic', Holst's The Morning of the Year and The Golden Goose haven't been played or performed in decades. Methinks, another case of inordinate devotion to mainstream Russian and French ballet?

[albion]

according to the CD reviewer at 'allmusic', Holst's The Morning of the Year and The Golden Goose haven't been played or performed in decades.

Another favourite I ought to have included is Holst - this Hickox disc is superb -



The Perfect Fool - Ballet Music (1918-22), The Lure (1921), The Golden Goose (1926) and The Morning of the Year (1926-27)

and somehow I also managed to overlook this in my initial 'off-top-of-head' list:



From Dusk till Dawn (1917) and The Truth About the Russian Dancers (1920)

[semloh]

Yes, agree totally - both unreservedly splendid discs.
I see, by the way, that the notes for the Bax - which is utterly charming - mention a ballet by Norman O'Neill entitled Before Dawn, which I don't suppose has seen the light of day for over a century.

[albion]

Taking the example of Holst, if we can admit choral-ballets (and I don't see why not), another work I would love to see recorded is Granville Bantock's The Great God Pan (1915). Only Part I, entitled Pan in Arcady, was published (the remnants appear to have gone into the making of the Pagan Symphony).

I've got a copy of the vocal score (see below) and it looks like a really fine example of Bantock's mature writing, with a huge unaccompanied Choral Prelude (Invocation to Pan) along the lines of Atalanta in Calydon, and vocal parts for Pan (bass), Echo (soprano), A Shepherd (tenor) and The Moon (contralto) -

Rawsthorne's original score for the Sadler's Wells Ballet in 1955 was 40 minutes long. The Ballet Suite arranged by the composer is a mere 8 minutes worth..that is as recorded by Dutton on CDLX 7203(RLPO/David Lloyd-Jones).

Just come across the ASV two-disc set entitled Tribute to Sir Fred which has Rawsthorne's complete 44-minute score for Madame Chrysanthème played by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia under Barry Wordsworth ...



... and ordered it from Amazon